Week 3: Time to explore the city!

 Hello Everyone,

I hope this post finds you well and at peace.  I have been reading in Mosiah and was impressed with how many times King Benjamin bears witness of our Savior and the promise that all who follow him to the end, will have peace in this life and eternal life hereafter.  I am not perfect and I make my fair share of mistakes, but I can honestly say that I am trying to be like my Savior, trying to give up the natural man and life a spiritual life.  I have felt the peace that can only come from the Holy Spirit.  It is what keeps me anchored and pressing forward.

This is week 3 of the clinical trial - my FEEL GOOD week.  The chemo is essentially out of my system and I am preparing for Cycle 2 to start on Monday.  Last week, week 2, was a mixed bag.  For a day or two my white blood cells were zero, so I had to be really careful about not getting an infection.  On Friday my platelets were low enough on that they gave me some.  They are really nice about that type of thing.  On Monday of this week, my blood levels were back up and they gave me the rest of the week off.  Overall, I felt good most of the time, but had low energy.  Week 3 is shaping up to be a good week.  I have more energy and feel like exploring.

I am so thankful that my employer allows me to work from New York.  We couldn't have done it otherwise.  We do have exciting plans for the weekend.  I will tell you about in the next post.  Angela's feet and my feet are getting a good workout.  All of the surfaces here are hard. Even the few places with carpet have little padding.  We are sometimes hobbling along by the end of the day if we have had to walk a lot.  

We have met some very nice people here in New York.  We have gotten help from strangers at the subway. the staff at the hospital are always nice, and the hotel staff are very nice.   The church members have been wonderful.  We had dinner the other night with a family.  They have three adorable children.  It made me think of my kids and the hugs I wish I could give them.  We are so thankful for the wonderful family and friends that are creating places of love and security for the kids.  

Thank you all for your prayers.  You love and support are so important to us.  We feel the power of your faith in our behalf.  We love you all.

-Doug-

Week 1: The Clinical Trial

Hello everyone!  I hope this post find you happy, healthy, and feeling blessed (or at least one of those ; )

We have been in New York for two weeks now - boy how time flies when you look back at it.  We have had our moments where we are counting down the seconds, but most of the time we find ourselves at the end of the day hoping we accomplished all that we needed to.  

So, the protocol that I am on for the summer is a three week cycle, repeated indefinitely.  The first day of the cycle I take two chemo drugs: the new drug they are testing and an existing drug used in my type of cancer treatment.  Days 2 - 5 of the cycle, I get just the existing drug (which I was taking in Utah).  Days 6 - 21, you recover from days 1-5.  Patients sometimes need a platelet transfusion.  Their white blood cell count will drop for a day or two then bounce back up.  

I started a cycle two Mondays ago.  I didn't need any transfusions, but my white blood cell count was basically 0 for a couple of days.  I am feeling better now.  The major side effect so far was a stomach cramp on Day 1.  We will pay attention on the next cycle and see if it happens again.  It wiped me out for the day.  

We are exploring New York between medical appointments and work.  There are so many people in Manhattan.  There is something new around every corner.  

We have been able to attend church in the chapel that is in the same building as the Manhattan Temple.  The members are very kind and friendly.  We look forward to getting to know them better.  Some of the members are letting us borrow some office and kitchen items for the hotel room, so Angela can teach piano, I can work more easily, and so we can prepare more meals here at the hotel.  Everything is very expensive around here.

We are so thankful to you all.  We feel the power of your prayers and your constant love and support.  We know that Heavenly Father's miracles abound at this time.  We hope to spread his love while we are here.  It is sometimes hard to know how to meet a need you see, but we know Heavenly Father will guide us as we act on our desires to help others.

May Heavenly Father bless you all.

-Doug-

All systems are GO! (and we made it to NYC safely)

 Dear family and friends,

Thank you for all of your prayers in our behalf these past weeks as we prepared for the New York trip.  We felt the strength and comfort that comes from those prayers.  We have been richly blessed by so many of you.  You have given of your time, energy, and substance in order for us to come to New York, all with the possibility of us having to turn around and come right back.  Heavenly Father knew what was going to happen and has led us in our thinking and our actions.  We have been truly blessed with guidance and direction, comfort and peace.

We flew on Wednesday, June 2nd to New York.  My angel mother came down and stayed with the kids until the boys went to stake young men's camp and Annie went to the neighbors for a week.  On a side note, the boys had to come back early from the camp because of a wild fire.  Please pray for rain!!  Annie is having a wonderful time living with the neighbors.  I have seen pictures of donuts and swimming and heard news of a movie.  That is my kind of summer!

Thank You!! to everyone that is helping our family this summer.  We have family and friends taking care of the kids and watching over the house.  We are so blessed to have such wonderful people in our lives.  We could not have come here to New York without your help and support.

We had a full day of tests on Thursday, June 3rd.  We got there at 8:15 pm and did not leave until 5:15 pm.  It was a long day.  Dr. Slotkin is very nice, professional, knowledgeable, and honest.  She didn't try to get our hopes inflated.  She stated the facts and expressed her hope that the new chemotherapy would work, but made no promises.  Angela and I have enjoyed working with her so far and are sure it will continue to be a great experience.  We are hoping to see Dr. LaQuaglia while we are here.  He is the pediatric surgeon that did my surgeries in 2014.  He is a wonderful doctor and was very kind to us.  

Friday, I was able to work from the apartment after getting my work computer to connect to the hotel internet.  I love Google, but in this case Edge got me where I needed to go.   We needed to get some things for the hotel, so we headed out once I finished working.  The amazing thing about New York is that almost anything you need is within walking distance.  We have a grocery store just down the street.  There are many restaurants.  There are all sorts of businesses within a few blocks of where we are staying.  We see people on bikes whizzing down the streets which makes even more things accessible to them.  We have needed to take a taxi a few times to get where we needed to be on time and with our bags.  That is its own kind of thrill ride.  

Angela has connected with some sisters (female members of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints) and they have been so helpful.  They have lent us kitchen and office items.  They have taken Angela places and shown her helpful things.  I think they are going to be a necessary social contact for Angela.  I will be trying to work most days and Angela will be teaching piano lessons for part of the day and she is going to need some good social interaction.  We did find a waterfall in a small park with some trees not too far from our hotel.  It will likely provide a place of solitude, a place to escape to now and then.

Dr Slotkin has many medical professionals and staff that work with her.  We refer to the group as the Team.  The Team called on Friday and said that all of the tests they had done looked good and that I was officially registered for the study.  WooHoo!!!  That is great news.  I start treatment on Monday with the new chemotherapy.  We know that you will be praying for us.  Please keep our children in your prayers also.  This is the longest we will ever have been separated from each other.   We plan on doing 2 cycles, a scan, two cycles, and a scan.  At that point we need to decide if the treatment is helping or not.  We will need to decide if we continue with the study or abandon it.  We will be praying intently for Heavenly Father's will to be done.  

We are praying that we can be of good to the people here in New York.  We hope that we can lift a burden or comfort a broken heart.  There is much need all around us.  I hope I can have the courage to act on the promptings I receive.  May Heavenly Father and Jesus bless you all.

With Love - Doug -